Marvin Fritz, Ilya Mikhalchik, Bastien Mackels – that was the order of finish in the final IDM Superbike 1000 race of the 2019 season. The official result was revised. Dominic Schmitter was subsequently awarded third place. Julian Puffe, Bastien Mackels, and Pepijn Bijsterbosch had work done on their motorcycles after the 3-minute board was displayed. All three therefore received a 20-second penalty and were set back accordingly.
This was preceded by a relentless battle for the lead at the highest competitive level. Marc Moser (MGM Racing Performance, Yamaha) started from second position. The pole position remained vacant. Dominic Schmitter (Hess Racing, Yamaha) should have been there, but the Swiss rider was absent during the formation lap. He arrived late and consequently had to line up at the back of the field.
Moser seized the moment and got off to a blistering start. Mackels (Wilber-BMW-Racing) shot up from seventh position to second place. The battle intensified as Marvin Fritz (Bayer Bikerbox, Yamaha) and Ilya Mikhalchik (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) joined the fray. After three laps, Mikhalchik, who had started from ninth position, was already in third. On the fourth lap, he snatched the lead from Mackels and later—as if it were child’s play—from Moser as well. The thriller culminated in a battle between Fritz and Mikhalchik at the front. The counter-maneuvers were razor-thin, with every corner becoming a high-stakes battle. Mikhalchik had the upper hand in the very last corner, but Fritz dug in so hard that even the seasoned Ukrainian couldn’t counter it. Fritz, the 2016 IDM Superbike 1000 champion, defeated the 2018 and 2019 champion. The Neckarzimmerer rider secured Yamaha’s only victory in the IDM Superbike 1000 this year, even though he did not receive any points as a guest rider. Mikhalchik received the points.
Mackels, who finished third, dropped to eighth place due to his time penalty. The Belgian only competed at Assen and Hockenheim. In 2020, the Wilbers-BMW team will once again compete in a full season. Wilbers, Mackels, and BMW have already reached an agreement.
Alessandro Polita (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) will continue racing with Honda. That decision was made a month ago. Despite his injured hand and a foot with four fractures, he finished in tenth place. His father drove the transport van on the trip back to Italy. Polita was completely exhausted. He is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.
Erwan Nigon (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing Team) was furious. The man who had finally secured Kawasaki an IDM victory in the premier class at Oschersleben after what seemed like an eternity had hoped for more from the second race. As the teams lined up on the grid, the weather was in flux. The Frenchman was the only one to have put on slicks, hoping for a drying track. But race control postponed the start. The track dried out. All the teams switched to slicks. Nigon’s hoped-for advantage evaporated. He finished the race in fifth place.
Every manufacturer competing in the IDM Superbike 1000 class had at least one rider finish in the top ten. For Suzuki, the fastest rider was Daniel Kartheininger (HPC-Power Suzuki Racing).